Coloring and Airplanes

Sema brought us ground nut soup for breakfast, also known as “brown-brown.” We ate the entire bowl, and a banana each. Today was pretty relaxing. After breakfast and our bucket bathing session, we got dressed, got ready for the day, braided our hair… and then took a nap. I slept for a long time, having crazy nap time dreams about sitting in the airport, and seeing random people. When I opened my eyes around 11:30am, Jessica was staring at me. I really wasn’t that out of it—she was stealth like a ninja entering without making a single sound! I sat with her while she colored for a while. She wrote all of her numbers, which she’s gotten better at since we’ve been here. At first she would write the mirror images of numbers, but now she wrote them correctly except for the number nine. Samantha was reading in the other room, and I was glad to have one-on-one time with Jessica. She wasn’t in school because her mom couldn’t afford the lunch fee. Over the course of the afternoon, I gave Jessica 3 bananas and a bunch of crackers. I started drawing a little bit, two scenes from Oasis, one of which was the turtle sitting on our table. Then I channeled my inner child and replaced my pencil with an array of crayons. I drew a sun, a mango tree, and then Jessica, Michael, Akiti, Cicho, Kofi, Samantha and I all holding hands. Cheesy, I know, but it was cute. Jessica got a kick out of it. After that I instructed Jessica on the fine art of crafting paper airplanes, and the even finer skill of flying them. She would stand on the top of our front steps, and squeal as it went further and further. If it didn’t go as far as the one before, she would say, “no,” and shake her head and try again.

Mama and Cicho brought us lunch (boiled cassava with pasta in palm oil with onions). Cicho was wearing his usual red shirt that said “six” on it. He and Jessica chased and played. After Mama left, I was tired and asked Jessica if she wanted to go home for a little bit and come back later. She looked as if someone had just murdered her puppy. It was wrong of me anyway to ask that; I should appreciate what little time I have had with her, and what little time is left. I sat with her outside for a while, and soon Kofi appeared with Fafali in tow, both wanting in on the paper airplane action that Jessica was showing off. It was a fun afternoon. All in all, Jessica was with us for 6 hours.

After Kofi began monopolizing the paper airplanes, Jessica started petting my head and my French braid. I asked her if she wanted to play with my hair and she smiled, “yes!” She went and found my brush (a step up from the flashlight she liked to use on my hair the last time I was here) and began concocting some hairstyle that more and more started to resemble what hair might look like after an electrocution. She was enjoying herself though, and if she pulled too hard, her little raspy voice would say “sorry, sorry sister Christine.” Three upper primary girls came by to say hello and took interest. They separated parts of my hair, two of them braided, and Jessica played. Michael appeared and started coloring with Kofi. It was a party! It was almost 5:30pm so I asked everyone to leave so we could visit the chief. I pulled out the hair ties, along with some of my hair that had been tangled among them, pulled back my hair, and Samantha and I walked with Emil over to the chief’s compound.

The meeting with the chief was relatively calm and uneventful. We discussed the logistics (sort of) behind getting volunteers for the library, which would include our presence at a community gathering the following morning… at 6:30am. We visited a short while, and then returned to our room to wait for dinner, which was jollof rice with 2 small pieces of chicken. I realized as I finished my piece of chicken that I was eating it more like a hungry monkey rather than my usual pickiness. After dinner, I grabbed my laptop and movies, and we headed over to Mama’s compound for a movie night with the kids.

Movie night was a blast. The kids had eaten and had their baths, so cuddling was flea-free! We sat in Mama’s living room area on fabric chairs in dark wooden frames. The cushions were covered in purple plastic. I placed the laptop of the coffee table and we gathered on the couch to experience Disney’s Tarzan. Cicho was asleep on the floor, Akiti was on my lap, and Michael was situated between Samantha and me. Michael would jump at the slightest thing meant to surprise or startle an audience. Akiti bobbed her head to all the background music. Mama joined us soon after the movie started, which added to the fun. She liked to ask questions about what was happening throughout the movie, something I probably do myself too often. After the movie, we visited for just a little while. I showed some pictures on my laptop that I had downloaded from my phone, including a picture of the White House in winter, and a picture of my Chicken a la CB dinner I invented (Sean helped a lot though and should be given much credit for the recipe). We talked about how long Mama would be living in the village (another year and a half she expects), and so I asked if after that she’ll be living in the US. We did talk about visiting though. The last time she checked, about five years ago, Ghanaian passport fees were about 11 cedis each. They can’t be much more than that now I would assume, but I know the airfare will trump any looming passport fee. I would love to have her and the kids come visit though, and preferably stay…  I hate the thought of not seeing our favorites again.